Ongoing website maintenance is key to a website’s success. Understand this concept and your website will serve you well.
The downward spiral
When I mention website maintenance people say “Oh I can handle that on my own”. Bless their hearts, those people have full intentions of writing new blog entries, posting cool photos, and generally getting their message out to the world. The problem is, that isn’t website maintenance. Unless that site receives proper maintenance (in addition to all of the new content our aspiring website owner intends to create & post), it’s the beginning of a downward spiral!
Website maintenance is the boring behind-the-scenes technical stuff — to use a comparison that most people can understand — it’s the Windows operating system update that Microsoft forces on us each month. Except that, instead of a single operating system, a website has multiple independent pieces-parts. WordPress websites (for example) may have 10 or more plugins running underneath the hood. WordPress or Custom, all of the pieces-parts have to work together as a single cohesive unit. When updating the pieces, 9 times out of 10 all of the website parts still work beautifully. There are scenarios, however, where one misbehaving piece crashes an entire website. It’s at that point that you will need a lot of experience (or a lot of extra money) to get things running again.
Website maintenance is more than just applying updates. Modern websites use software technologies that are constantly evolving. Each new update brings new features to take advantage of. Updates may also remove features. If your website was written to call upon a feature that no longer exists, there may be visible errors and website breakages. Keep in mind that many of your first-time clients visit your company website before they call you on the phone. A broken website never makes a good first impression.
Hitting rock bottom
Without maintenance, plugins and core code become outdated, content becomes stale and outdated, outbound links break; all sorts of nastiness. How nasty? I’ll paint one possible scenario:
No new content added for several months. Organic search rankings begin to deteriorate. Website is no longer found within the first 5 pages of a Google search.
Plugins haven’t been updated for several months. At worst, the outdated plugins contain known security vulnerabilities that may allow attackers to successfully hack the website. At best, the outdated plugins no longer work properly due to use of deprecated code causing random user experience issues (e.g. pages don’t load, checkout process breaks, etc.).
Core code (if a WordPress website) and/or Javascript libraries haven’t been updated in many months. Core updates always contain critical security updates. There are very few valid reasons for a WordPress website to have out-of-date core code. Javascript the same — if support libraries aren’t periodically updated, things are going to break. At best, your website is vulnerable to well-known attack vectors (i.e. it is very hackable), and if hacked, can be used to spread malware.
Website is woefully out-of-date. Domain hosting provider makes all attempts to contact the site owner to let them know the site is at risk of being shut down. The site owner does not respond because warning emails are getting caught in the spam folder or sent to an unmonitored email address. While the hosting provider is in the process of taking down your site, Google, Yahoo (etc.) are placing your site’s domain name in a blacklist. Your site (which no longer physically exists) also no longer appears in any search return and will not until you fix that domain name’s broken reputation.
This scenario is easily avoided with ongoing website maintenance by Let’s Talk Graphics. Think about it: Is your time best spent maintaining the company website, or maintaining the company itself? Contact Let’s Talk Graphics and remove the burden of website maintenance.
Your website will stand above the rest
Let’s Talk Graphics ongoing website maintenance and webmaster services cover the most technical (and critical) areas of ongoing website maintenance. A basic maintenance plan includes:
- Update plugins & core software (WordPress websites),
- Create verified backups of your website in case of a catastrophe,
- Ensure organic SEO is continually implemented on new content,
- *Add new content / *Remove outdated content,
- Ensure platform and plugin security updates are applied in a timely manner,
- Act as a liaison with your web hosting company if there are technical questions/concerns/features that I am unable to personally address,
- Suggest improvements based on my knowledge in the field of website SEO, design, and development, and
- Provide telephone support when you have questions about your website
*Client makes a request and/or provides new content. Allotted development time for new content is agreed upon at the time of signup.
We also develop tailored plans to fit your company’s unique website maintenance requirements. If your website requires more than what our existing plan offers, we’re always willing to talk! Call today to apply for Let’s Talk Graphics webmaster services.
Qualified website owners! Webmaster and Ongoing Website Maintenance plans start at just $67.50/mo.